Humphreys had gone as far as Gibraltar on his mission when he learned that a truce had been suddenly arranged between Portugal and Algiers.

This was alarming news, since it meant that the Algerines could now pass into the Atlantic from which they had been excluded by Portuguese war-vessels stationed in the strait of Gibraltar.
"I have not slept since the receipt of the news of this the hellish plot," wrote Edward Church, the United States consul at Lisbon.

Church was energetic in spreading the intelligence, which fortunately reached some American shipmasters in time to save them.

In October, 1793, as thirteen American vessels were in the port of Lisbon afraid to venture out, Church pleaded their case so vigorously that the Portuguese government agreed to give them an armed convoy.

Nevertheless the Algerines found plenty of game among American ships then at sea, for they captured ten vessels and added one hundred and five more Americans to the stock of slaves in Algiers.
"They are in a distressed and naked situation," wrote Captain O'Brien, who had himself then been eight years in captivity.
Humphreys made arrangements by which they received clothing and a money allowance ranging from twelve cents a day for a seaman up to eight dollars a month for a captain.